Earlier quoted context omitted.
I imagine that the fine at Andreesen Horowitz isn't so much a financial incentive but instead signaling and shock value that respecting entrepreneurs is important, in the same way that book budgets at startups aren't so much a financial incentive but signaling how the company treats engineers. There's also the matter of who's imposing the fine. For the day care, imposing a fine negated the social incentive not to be…
I was late to a VC meeting today. Because I am a dumbass and did not plan my travel well. Should I, or anyone else, be fined for that? I apologized when I arrived (and e-mailed as I could beforehand) because it's rude to be late for a meeting with people you are in business with, regardless of whatever monetary incentives someone wants to arbitrarily hang on that. If you need a fine system to make that work, I'd argu…
If you had been made aware, in advance, that there was a fine, then sure, you should be fined for being tardy.
Are you pattern-matching on "VC", "lateness", "fine", and your own negative feelings regarding having been late to a VC meeting?
Your reaction to this story (VC firm trying to show that it values potential investment targets' time) is like someone worrying that, since a pizzeria has a policy of not charging customers for a pizza if it's delivered late, you're going to have to provide the delivery person with a free sandwich if you don't get to the door quickly enough after he rings the bell.